Kingston electrical fire causes hourlong outage

KINGSTON — An underground electric cable caught fire about 3 p.m. Thursday, knocking out power to most of a dozen blocks in uptown Kingston for just over an hour.

KINGSTON — An underground electric cable caught fire about 3 p.m. Thursday, knocking out power to most of a dozen blocks in uptown Kingston for just over an hour.

It is uncertain exactly what caused the underground cable in a manhole at the corner of North Front and Fair streets to catch fire.

Central Hudson crews were in the area working on the underground system when they got the alert from Ulster County 911. John Maserjian, a spokesman for Central Hudson, said water or salt or some other environmental cause are suspected.

To make the repairs, crews had to disconnect the power to circuits in the area at 3 p.m. It left about 750 customers — buildings and tenants in the commercial district — without power.

The blackout stretched from North Front Street on the north to Maiden Lane on the south, the intersection with Broadway on the east and Green Street on the west.

Crews got the power back on at 4:05 p.m., Maserjian said.

No one was injured. City firefighters and public works employees assisted with traffic control.